Wine Recommendation

Herder Winery & Vineyards

2006 Cabernet Franc
(Okanagan Valley)

While based primarily in the Similkameen Valley, Herder purchases grapes and works with vintners in the southern Okanagan, notably on the southern-most Osoyoos Lake Bench. These vineyards are near the American border and are among the hottest in the Okanagan. As a result, Cabernet Franc gets optimally ripe here, yielding wines with vivid fruit but no off-putting greenness.

This wine, dark in colour, tastes of well-grown Cabernet Franc. On the palate, there is a juicy, mouth-filling texture. It begins with aromas of cherry and spice. It tastes of plums, cherries and currants with a slight peppery note on the finish. The wine was aged 11 months in French and American oak barrels and this moderate touch of oak provides a nice frame for the bright berry flavours. 89 points.

The Wine

The Reviewer

John Schreiner

John Schreiner has been covering the wines of British Columbia for the past 30 years and has written 10 books on the wines of Canada and BC. He has judged at major competitions and is currently a panel member for the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards of Excellence in Wine. Both as a judge and as a wine critic, he approaches each wine not to find fault, but to find excellence. That he now finds the latter more often than the former testifies to the dramatic improvement shown by BC winemaking in the past decade.

The Wine

The Reviewer

John Schreiner

John Schreiner has been covering the wines of British Columbia for the past 30 years and has written 10 books on the wines of Canada and BC. He has judged at major competitions and is currently a panel member for the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards of Excellence in Wine. Both as a judge and as a wine critic, he approaches each wine not to find fault, but to find excellence. That he now finds the latter more often than the former testifies to the dramatic improvement shown by BC winemaking in the past decade.